Unfortunately humans by nature like to compare. I teach at a community college and for my level of education I'm paid much less than my friends in industry. I

Unfortunately humans by nature like to compare. I teach at a community college and for my level of education I'm paid much less than my friends in industry. I don't begrudge their success and I'm comfortable with my situation but others aren't. Our pay has been declining relative to the pay increases of people in industry and I think this exacerbates the problem. In an absolute sense I'm well paid and I'm happy with my situation. If I were to engage in a keeping up with the Jones' attitude then I'd probably be bitter. I don't have kids so my need to keep up is greatly diminished from those who do have kids. This is the real issue with inequality. Seeing so many other people have it much better than you despite relatively the same level of education and intelligence makes people angry. It's hard not to compare but it's much healthier emotionally not to compare.